Pallets are used in the manufacture, transportation and storage of a wide variety of products. A palletized load may be conveniently packed by the manufacturer, transported, stored in stacks or racked, and delivered to the end user conveniently and efficiently. Although wooden pallets are widely used, wooden pallet quality is variable due to variations in wood and assembly techniques. Furthermore, exposed nails and wood splinters as well as the inherent difficulties in maintaining wood surfaces in a sanitary condition make wooden pallets undesirable in industries such as the food and canned goods industries, where high levels of sanitation are required.
Plastic pallets have been employed to overcome some of these drawbacks of wooden pallets. In particular, pallets have been formed by a process of twin sheet thermoforming which are durable and easily cleaned.
In an effort to extend the usable lifetime of a pallet, pallets are known which utilize two decks joined by replaceable legs or posts. The pallet legs, which come into repeated contact with the sharp metal tines of forklift vehicles, are subjected to the most intense wear of any part on the pallet. In these pallets, a damaged leg may be removed from the double deck assembly and replaced with a fresh leg at a cost far less than replacing the entire pallet. Known replaceable legs generally are cylindrical, and bolted between upper and lower decks, or have employed various barbed geometries to allow a snap-fit connection between upper and lower decks.
Due to the inherent material properties of plastic and the desire for an overall light-weight pallet, in applications requiring the support of heavy loads the plastic upper deck of the pallet has been reinforced with metal rods or tubular metal substrates.
Reinforced double deck pallets are known which utilize snap fit posts. Snap fit posts, however, are subject to failure when placed in tension and also require specialized tools to remove.
What is needed is a double deck reinforced plastic pallet of high load-carrying capacity which may be economically formed and maintained in a sanitary condition and which has leg posts which are durable and which are easily replaced.